What Does Matthew 26:7 Mean?
There came to him a woman having an alabaster jar of very weighty ointment, and poured it on his head, as he reclined at table.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.THE KEY
The ointment’s value becomes visible when it leaves the box and becomes honor poured onto a person.
THE MEANING
This verse shows honor taking a tangible, costly form: precious ointment leaves its container and rests on his head as he sits at the table. Value, touch, and presence meet in one act, making devotion visible rather than abstract.
THE ROOT
κατέχεεν
katécheen
GROWS FROM
χέω
cheō
to pour or pour out
The verb translated “poured” carries the root χέω, which also appears in the verb for blood being “shed” in Matthew 26:28. The same action-word joins fragrance poured onto a head with blood poured out for many.
ALSO GROWS
chysis: a pouring or effusion
χύσις
This noun preserves the root’s sense of a substance being poured out, giving the act here a shape beyond simply opening a container.
ekcheō: to pour out
ἐκχέω
The same root appears in Matthew 26:28, where Jesus’ blood is described as poured out; that link lets this act of anointing echo a larger giving.
πολυτίμου
polytímou
GROWS FROM
τιμή
timē
value, price, honor
“weighty” in this verse is polytímou. The word combines polys, “much,” with timē, “value” or “honor.” The ointment’s high price and the honor it expresses occupy the same word-family, so its cost is also part of the meaning of the gesture.
ALSO GROWS
timios: precious, honored, valued
τίμιος
This branch holds value and honor together, as the costly ointment becomes a visible act of honoring.
timaō: to honor or value
τιμάω
This verb turns the root’s sense of value into an action, much as the ointment turns honor into a physical gesture.
THE PATTERN
Anointing makes honor tangible, and the oil’s touch extends beyond the head into a wider presence.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the breath of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.Like the good oil upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, Aaron's beard, that runs down to the collar of his garments.Then Mary took a pound of ointment of genuine nard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and dried his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the scent of the ointment.THE THREAD
For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many, for the release of shortcomings.The Greek verb behind “shed” shares the χέω (cheō), “to pour,” root with the ointment poured onto his head here. Fragrance poured over him and blood poured out for many meet in the same action-word.
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